Great day in the mountains, finally steady summer weather, maybe even a bit too hot as the snow became quickly soft even avove the 4.000m. But we climbed a beautifull route and did do even the Monch later in the morning.

Superb weather and snow conditions, after several days of postponements by the guiding service due to a potentially threatening cornice directly above the trail on the Rottalhorn (it had snowed more than 1.5 meters high up on the Jungfrau in a couple of days). We were able to summit this very famous peak on the very last day of our Grindelwald stay.

We started at 3.30 AM from the Monchsjochhutte (in the company of my son Christoph and our local guide Martin) and were at the very windy top at 7.30 AM. We had awesome views from the top stretching all the way to Mt Blanc. Our descent from the Rottalsattel was by a more direct route to Jungfraufirn and thus avoided the ascent route taken via Kranzbergeck (we arrived at Jungfraujoch by 10 AM).

Went up the snow face to the saddle. Did have to climb around the large bergshrund through rocks and then return to the snow face. Also needed to chop through a small cornice at the top of the face to get to the saddle. Rest of route up the ridge was very straightforward and went quickly.

The final summit of our 24-day climbing trip in the Suisse Alps. Started together with the other parties around 04.30 at the Mönchsjochhütte and left everybody behind. Traversed left on the glacier underneath the Kranzberg. Good conditions at the Rottalsattel and reached the summit after 3 hours of climbing. No clouds and awesome views. Decended straight down from the Rottalsattel through the sérac, which required 1 small abseil. This is a quick way down, but not every year in condition.

Climbed the normal route with plenty of others starting from the Mönchjochhütte. During the climb I was happy to get to chat and prattle with the fellow climbers especially in some of the bottlenecking sections of the route. I always enjoy getting to communicate with other climbers. It is especially easy in Switzerland where people are so friendly and most of them speak English fluently.

However, the climb was nice and summitting Jungfrau satisfied me greatly now that I had climbed five 4000-meter summits in three days. That called for a celebration so after returning to Grindelwald I purchased a bottle of Moët at the Coop.

A beautiful mounatin in a beautiful setting. Camped at the glacier below, it was quite cold! The normal route up to Jungfrau is not 'easy'. The crux of the climb is at the Rottal saddle, where we encountered bad ice (belay hardly possible) of 55-60 degr. Besides that, there is a hazardous traverse above this saddle along the ice slopes that come down from the summit. Belaying there is not a bad idea. See also: www.climbingtours.net

An early start from the Mönchjoch hut took us to the start of the climb. The weather was not promising; low clouds and snow in the air but no wind. We found a lot of crevasses at the bergschrund and had to cut steps in the ice for one hour further up. At high speed we went underneath the dangerous avalanche region at the Rottalsattel. It was hard work to get to the summit where the visibility was less than twenty meters. On the way down we decided for the direct route from Rottalsattel to Jungfraujoch. No other people could be seen on the mountain this day, (August 24, 1995).

I started from Mönchjochhütte at 4h 20. After a little snowfall in the night, the weather was clear and as the first, I had to mark out. The rocks of Kranzbergegg were a little icy. The Rottalsattel was easy to reach. Higher the climb over the dizzy Rottal 1000 meters below is not to underrate. Don't climb the snow ridge directly but follow the rock line on the left and secure you on the bars !

I reached the summit after 3 h 40 minutes at 8 and I was the first on the summit this day.

To go down I used the direct route through the icefall. The crevasses were filled with snow and easy to cross. Hurry up on this route because the danger of icefall is great and don't NEVER use this route on the way up!